Date: one day in April 1985.

A new student had transferred to the school where Mat and his friends were studying. This was a young man with brown hair, white skin with freckles, and wore glasses. He was a grade lower than Mat. The thing is, during lunch, he was sitting alone in the courtyard. He was on a bench next to a wall, under a roof. There was almost no one around him. Everyone was in their respective groups. And yeah, he had not made friends with anyone because he was quite shy. Even to get his lunch he had difficulties...

At that, a young man older than him, and a couple of his friends, approached him. Describing this young man, what stood out most about him was his physique, as he was athletic, and he had a tattoo of... I don't know what, but it was three eyes. Maybe they were of a gang. The thing is, because there was no one around, or well, people who cared about it, not even teachers, they went to take money from the boy. While that was going on, Mathias was with Erin and James. They were having lunch. At that, as they were doing so, Mat noticed in the distance what was happening to that young man. Erin noticed that too.

"Oh. Here we go again..." she said.

"Those guys are the worst," James said. "They've been reported several times, and the teachers don't do anything."

"Ah, that's true..." said Mat. "But... I'm getting tired of this."

"Hey, Mat, don't tell me that..." Erin said.

"If the teachers don't do anything, then I will," he said, got up and started to leave.

"Mat... Ah, he didn’t listen to me..." said James.

Mathias approached the place where they were. He heard what they were saying to him, insulting him, and asking him for money, and that he should give them because his parents had money, and if he didn't, there would be consequences. And so, the first thing Mathias said was:

"Ah, come on. Stop doing that. Leave him alone."

They all turned to look at him, and their leader said:

"Ah, Donovan, why are you getting involved? Get out of here, this doesn't concern you."

"Ah, I see," said another. "You want to play the hero, don't you? That's to gain more favor with the teachers. Haha."

Well, some teachers liked Mat because he helped them, although... Well, he wasn't an excellent student; his grades were little more than average.

And so, Mat sighed and said:

"Do you think that's why? Wow. Actually, I'm tired of seeing you do things like that without anyone saying anything. It's irritating."

"And you think you're going to stop us, brat?" said another. Although he was older, Mathias was taller, by about five inches.

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"Ah, let's go," Mat said. "What you guys are doing is worse. Are we still in elementary school? You look like children."

"What did you say?" said the tattooed man. It seemed that the latter had struck a chord with him.

Because of this, and out of nowhere, he pulled a knife out of his pocket and wanted to attack Mat with it, to the surprise of his friends as well. Stabbing him guaranteed them expulsion, and perhaps something worse, but... It was too fast. Erin, from a distance, noticed what was happening. She hadn't gone because she didn't want to get into trouble, but now she wanted to act when she realized what was going to happen, but...

"Agh!"

The young man with the tattoo had fallen to the ground. The knife was a few meters away from him. Mat had avoided the cut with ease and elbowed him in the back, causing him to fall. Some girls passing by at the time, even seeing the knife, mocked the young man, laughing, and passed by. And so... When the young man wanted to pick up the knife, Mat stepped on it to stop him from doing so.

"Agh, damn it, let's go. It's not worth it," said the young man.

"Ah... It's all right," said one of his friends.

In the end, they left.

Erin, while that was happening, had gone to check on the new student and ask him if he was okay. James had stayed put because he didn't want to get in trouble... The thing is that in the end they talked to the boy, found out if he was okay, and in the end, they had lunch with him. The boy felt at ease with them. Although... at the end of class, he didn't go home with them, but with a friend he made during the remaining classes. That same day, Mat was walking around town, looking for someone.

He found him. It was the tattooed young man. He was sitting alone on a park bench, smoking.

"Ah, hello."

"Mathias?" he said, and added, annoyed. "Would you do me a favor and get out of here?"

"No, I can't."

"Ah, damn." He started to get up.

"I wanna talk to you," he said.

"About what?"

"You see..."

And there, Mat mentioned to him that he saw him already molesting, hurting, and extorting several students for a couple of years already. And well, he wanted to know why, and also why he got angry when he called him "childish." The young man, although he didn't want to answer her at first, finally did.

It turns out that his family was poor, and had lost his father about six years ago. The thing is, to support his family, his older brother had gotten into shady business, and was part of a criminal gang. He did it to support his family.

The thing is, because of this, his brother, so to speak, had to grow up and mature faster. He also wanted to do it, and for that, he wanted to act tough, and imitate what his brother did when he started, so that they would also take him seriously even at home, and to help them financially as well, although... to be honest, his thinking was quite childish. The thing is, he was also part of that gang, and even sold drugs at school, and not only there. Also on the streets. That's how he got some money for his family. The extorting money from other students was just so he could feel... Superior, and not just a simple lackey.

And yes, there was a problem at the school because of the presence of those drugs, but... They could never find out who did it. They even investigated the young man, because they knew about his brother (who was not in town), but... They didn't find anything on him. He had hidden it well.

Mat was surprised by that, and more so because he told him, and Mat didn't even know his name. Even he realized that, that he told personal things to someone who had humiliated him, and that he barely knew. It was as if he wanted someone to listen, to understand, or something...

In the end, Mat didn't know what to say to him, other than:

"You know that everyone is different, right? You don't necessarily have to be like your brother to be respected, or hurt others to be considered mature, or something..."

He ignored the gang and the fact that he was selling drugs. Unbelievable.

"...Telling you all that wasn't worth it, you sound like a useless therapist..." he said, and started to leave. He blew smoke out of his mouth. "Forget everything we talked about, and what happened today, okay? I'll do the same. We never talked."

"...Okay," Mat told him, after keeping silent for a few seconds. The young man left.

The thing is, by the next day, and the days to come, that young man was no longer doing what he used to do. Even the circulation of drugs had slowed down at the school. Ah, yeah. There were more people involved in that. In the end, this was told by Mat to Erin, and this was told to Samantha, when they became friends and she wanted to know more about Mat, and confirmed with others, who saw this from a distance. In a sense, she admired Mat for this, and liked him more."